


Twelve Days

by writerdragonfly



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 23:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5805346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerdragonfly/pseuds/writerdragonfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A secret admirer gives Barry gifts for the twelve days of Christmas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twelve Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gemenice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemenice/gifts).



> Originally written for Gemenice in the Coldflash Secret Santa. :)

The first present shows up on his bed a few minutes after midnight, just barely into Christmas morning. Barry doesn't know where it came from, just that it wasn't there when he went into the bathroom to shower and was sitting there when he walked out. 

 

The door was still locked, the windows still secure.

 

But there was a wrapped gift on his bed, the tag saying nothing but “to Barry.”

 

He carefully unwraps the paper, mostly because he's a little worried he might be unwrapping a bomb. He doubts it, but all things considered he's a little cautious. 

 

He didn't see who left it after all. 

 

Under the plain Christmas green wrapping is a pristine white box, and Barry snorts out a laugh when he opens it. 

 

A collectible  [ Speedy Gonzales bowl ](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Speedy-Gonzales-Salsa-Bowl-NIB-/131626667778) , still in its original box. 

 

He doesn't remember the cartoon very well, just faint memories of it from his childhood. But he gets the connection. Speedy, indeed. 

 

He looks it up online as he settles into bed, the package returned to the white box and left on his dresser. 

 

A hundred dollar Christmas present from a secret admirer?

 

-x-

 

The next present is just as unexpected as the first had been. He finds it when he stumbles out of bed the day after Christmas, running late to work. He ends up taking it with him, setting it on his desk and forgetting about it until he's back from lunch. 

 

Joe walks in just as he's unwrapping the box and pulling out the little plaque reading “Gotta Go Fast” in bright blue lettering. 

 

It feels familiar, even though he doesn't know why. 

 

-x-

 

Two days after Christmas he wakes up to his phone blaring a song about Sonic the Hedgehog. There's a text message waiting from a number he almost certainly didn't put in his phone, labeled under the word  _ Secret _ .

 

The text is simple, five words and GPS coordinates. “You need to slow down.” 

 

The coordinates match a day spa focusing on men in high stress careers. Barry calls them and finds an expensive reservation under his name, redeemable anytime in the next year.

 

-x-

 

He doesn't get his gifts for days four and five until day six due to a series of unfortunate events that culminate in him being laid up in bed for most of that time. When he finally makes it home, he finds them sitting on his dresser. 

 

He doesn’t open them until day seven.

 

But they make him smile.

 

-x-

 

Most of the gifts are gimmicky, made to play on his secret identity and tease him about it. He doesn’t  _ know _ who’s doing it. 

 

As much as it makes him uncomfortable, someone secretly spending so much money on him just to make him smile, he also  _ likes _ it. 

 

Likes being spoiled like that. 

 

Which is why he doesn’t say anything to anyone about it, even when he unwraps a gift containing a female  [ figurine from an anime ](http://www.amazon.com/Bleach-Series-Gashapon-Figure-Yoruichi/dp/B002H08S82) . 

 

Which is why he doesn’t say anything when the notes and texts tell him far more about the sender than  _ why _ they’re being given to him.

 

-x-

 

Day twelve says the most about the sender. Barry’s already certain by then who it is, but if he wasn’t, he  _ would _ have been once he opened it.

 

The card reads, “Reminds me of you, Kid.”

 

A  [ talking stuffed toy ](http://www.ebay.com/itm/DASH-The-Incredibles-18-inch-electronic-talking-plush-doll-Disney-2003-Pixar-NEW-/141842507482?hash=item210678e6da:g:qtMAAOSwBahVZ6vS) from  _ The Incredibles _ . 

 

_ I am too fast for you,  _ indeed.

 

-x-

 

Most of his things are gathered up in their collectible boxes and packed away in the back of his closet. It’s not because he’s embarrassed of them. He especially likes the  [ Sonic 3 Sega Genesis cartridge ](http://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Hedgehog-3-Sega-Genesis/dp/B00005043P/ref=sr_1_5?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1449955973&sr=1-5&keywords=sonic+the+hedgehog) , even though he hasn’t had a Sega console in years.

 

It’s just, he’s living at home again. He’s living at home again, and it’s hard enough to find someone who’d date him knowing that. 

 

And despite the amount of money and time that  _ Leonard Snart _ must have spent on him, he doesn’t think that Snart would even want to date him. Not really. 

 

So he shoves it all in his closet, but he leaves the notes and cards stacked carefully in his night stand and resolutely does not think about what it means.

 

He’s not sure he can  _ let  _ himself think about what it means. About what it makes him  _ feel. _

 

-x-

 

When he wakes up the morning of January 6th, he texts the number labeled  _ Secret _ .

 

“Why?”

 

He doesn’t get a response before he has to leave for work. Not that he’d expected one that early anyway.

 

-x-

 

That night, after he slips out of his  _ Flash _ gear and showers, he stares at the website for the day spa from day three. 

 

He thinks it would be nice, to just get away and  _ forget _ for a day. To relax.

 

His phone chimes with that same Sonic song, interrupting him.

 

_ “Does it matter?” _

 

Barry stares at it for far longer than he’d stared at the website.

 

He doesn’t have an answer by the time he falls asleep.

 

-x-

 

Captain Cold is spotted downtown in his full gear in the morning, and Barry almost  _ doesn’t _ go. He knows that it’s not about a score, but it’s... about an answer.

 

It’s about an answer to a question Barry’s still not sure he understands. 

 

Does it matter?

 

Or is the question about something else entirely?

 

-x-

 

Barry turns off his comm unit just as he’s approaching Cold. He knows Cisco will worry, probably start hacking nearby cameras to find out what’s going on.

 

But he... Barry  _ can’t _ do this with Cisco in his ear, can’t do this with Cisco  _ listening _ in. 

 

It could be a massive joke, Barry knows this. It could be a grand hilarious thing where Captain Cold has been stringing him along in order to throw him off his game. 

 

But he doesn’t think it is.

 

Barry thinks about the collection in his closet. Random collectibles yes, but.. they were all bought with  _ him _ in mind. Even though the notes were sometimes rude, even though the comment on Barry being more attractive if he was female was somewhat mean, and even though he was certain they were bought with ill gotten gains... he  _ liked _ being the center of someone’s attention for once. Not because of a necessary responsibility, not because someone  _ owed _ him.

 

Because they wanted to.

 

“Flash, how unexpected to see you here.”

 

Barry takes a deep breath.

 

“Why?”

 

Snart smirks, and Barry finds himself following the curve of his lips with an unexpected intensity. 

 

“It was fun. You ever figure out how they got there, Barry?”

 

“Does it matter?” Barry asks him. Snart’s eyes flicker, just a little.

 

Barry thinks he gets it.

 

“I suppose it doesn’t,” Snart remarks, stepping toward him.

 

The Cold gun is still securely attached to his side, not at the ready in his hands.

 

The warehouse he’d followed Snart into is still quiet. There’s no one around, not as far as he can tell.

 

It could still be a trap, but Barry doubts it.

 

Barry doesn’t think that’s what this is about.

 

He steps forward too.

 

“Did you know that most people around here celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas in the days leading up to it?” Snart asks.

 

“Isn’t that how it’s supposed to go?”

 

“No,” Snart says, “It isn’t.”

 

“I think it’s better this way,” Barry says. 

 

They both know they’re not talking about Christmas, not anymore. They’re not talking about twelve days of gifts and break ins.

 

They’re talking about something else entirely.

 

“I’m not stopping.”

 

“... I’m not asking you to.”

 

They’re both silent for a moment.

 

“They won’t like it, you know. Your... friends. Your family.”

 

“Will yours?”

 

“Touch é , Scarlet.”

 

Barry’s the one who makes the move first, and when he thinks about it later he’ll be sure that it’s because Snart was waiting for him to do it. Waiting for Barry to be ready.

 

Kissing him is like an avalanche. It’s cold and fast and dangerous.

 

But Barry thinks it might be worth it, worth  _ this _ in the end. 

  
  


-x-

 

Barry turns the comm unit back on ten minutes later as he makes his way out of the warehouse. 

 

“I’m fine,” he says, his voice even. 

 

“What the hell, dude?”

 

“Captain Cold is taken care of, Cisco. Don’t worry about it.”

 

“Barry, what--”

 

“Do you still need me in the suit, or can I get ready for work?”

 

“I guess you can get ready, but... what happened, Barry?”

 

“Something good.”

 

-x-

 

That night, Barry gets home to a white box on his bed. There’s a note attached, blue ink on white paper.

 

“ _ Stay cool, tonight _ .”

 

The inside of the box makes him blush, but he leaves his window open anyway.

 

-x-

 

In the morning, his phone chimes,  [ _ Gotta Go Fast _ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk6AobT_SDo) playing again.

 

There’s a text from his secret admirer, from Len.

 

“Last night was fun, Barry. We’ll have to play again soon.”

 

It doesn’t take him long to respond.

 

“Think you can keep your cool long enough for that, Len?”

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on [ tumblr.](http://coldflashsecretsanta.tumblr.com/post/135903638183/twelve-days)


End file.
